2024 Highlights: Expanded efforts around data use and cross-country learning

Countdown has much to celebrate as 2024 draws to a close. This year marked numerous milestones, including our largest annual meeting to date, followed by productive data dialogue in countries. We had several opportunities to advocate at the global level, published 33 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and our second cohort of Countdown fellows—10 junior researchers from across sub-Saharan Africa—began their independent research projects.

Additionally, there may have been more babies born than usual to people within the Countdown collaboration this year, though we are still collecting data to confirm!

Largest annual meeting to date

With the Global Financing Facility and other partners, Countdown hosted 260 researchers from 26 countries for a five-day analysis workshop in Rwanda in April.

Meeting video · Chartbooks

Country teams used the chartbooks they produced during the workshop, plus other analyses conducted through project activities, to engage with policy and program planners in their countries.

Data uptake stories from:

Burkina Faso · Chad· DR Congo · Ethiopia · Ghana · Liberia · Somalia · Uganda · Zimbabwe

Advocacy in collaboration with PMNCH and other global partners

As part of our longstanding collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Agbessi Amouzou spoke at the annual accountability breakfast, and Cheikh Faye spoke at an event focused on the health workforce.

Fellowship program

While the second cohort of fellows began, the first cohort continued to share their results, presenting at the annual meeting and publishing their results; learn more

New Publications

Countdown researchers produced four journal supplements:

Another 11 papers were published:

Advocacy in collaboration with PMNCH and other global partners

As part of our longstanding collaboration with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Agbessi Amouzou spoke at the annual accountability breakfast, and Cheikh Faye spoke at an event focused on health workforce.

Looking Ahead to 2025

In 2025 we will have more to share, including the release of a Lancet report on progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, a webinar series from the health financing data & analysis center, and more news from the multi-country studies on immunization and maternal newborn health.